Greenford is ninth in the UK’s top 20 burglary hotspots, new figures have revealed.

Figures were based on an analysis of 3.1million home insurance quote requests submitted to the MoneySupermarket website over the last year, where people wanting home insurance state if they have previously made a burglary claim.

The number of claims made per 1,000 people in UB6 – Greenford and Perivale – was 30.9.

Alex Nieora, chair of Periwood Crescent residents’ association and independent candidate for Perivale ward in the 2014 local elections, Tweeted: “Greenford and Perivale – ninth most burglaries in UK. Why was Greenford police station closed? CCTV cameras needed for years in Perivale and Greenford.”

Leader of Ealing Council, Julian Bell, Tweeted in response: “We have CCTV in Perivale and Greenford and if re-elected will provide more. Residential burglary down 15 per cent this year and at lowest level for 10 years. Investing in CCTV, alley gating and SmartWater.”

Mr Nieora said even if residential burglary is down by 15 per cent, the number of offences is still high and more resources are needed.

Chief Inspector Colin Wingrove, of Ealing Police, said that burglary, residential and non-residential, is an issue they take seriously and treat as a priority crime due to the devastating impact it can have on victims.

He said reported burglaries are mapped by police crime analysts and officers are tasked with a range of proactive anti-burglary tactics in priority areas such as Greenford and Perivale.

Chf Insp Wingrove said: “One effective tactic we employ regularly is placing automatic number plate readers along the A40 to target known and stolen vehicles. The comparative figures show a 30 per cent drop in burglaries in the area when this tactic is used.”

Police calculations show that between April 2012 and January 2013 and April 2013 and January 2014, residential burglary decreased in the Greenford Broadway ward by 12 per cent (from 107 to 94).

During the same period, burglaries in Greenford Green dropped by 18 per cent (from 149 to 123), North Greenford by 15 per cent (from 111 to 94) and Perivale by 39 per cent (from 155 to 94).

Conservative Perivale Councillor Justin Anderson said: “The council needs to work harder with the police to keep thieves out of residents’ homes.”

Ealing Council’s cabinet member for community services and safety, Councillor Ranjit Dheer, said: “We recently visited more than 220 Greenford homes with the police as part of the Simple2Start initiative to offer advice on how to make properties safer and gave out SmartWater property marking kits. We plan to expand this to other parts of Greenford, Perivale and Northolt in February.”

According to the MoneySupermarket statistics, Chorlton in Manchester is the most targeted area in the UK and more than half of the top 20 burglary hotspots are in London.

Kevin Pratt, home insurance expert at MoneySupermarket, said: “Just because somewhere is named a claim hotspot it doesn’t actually mean the area in question is not a nice place to live.

"Thieves often target areas with wealthy residents and desirable properties where the rewards are potentially greater or quieter areas where they think there is less risk of being caught red-handed.”